River Hawks Defeat Hartford, 83-73, in Regular-Season Finale

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HARTFORD, Mass. – Sophomore Max Brooks (Waldorf, Md.) led the way with career highs of 29 points and 17 boards, as the UMass Lowell River Hawks men’s basketball team (15-15, 7-11 AE) took home an exciting, 83-73 road win at Hartford (11-19, 9-9 AE) in the regular-season finale on Thursday.

“This was a good win against a team that doesn’t let down,” said Head Coach Pat Duquette. “We’ve all faced a lot of adversity this year, us included, but Hartford may be right at the top, and they’ve done a good job. We’ve always had good battles with them, and tonight was no different. I thought we did a great job taking care of the basketball in the second half. Ayinde (Hikim) was really helpful there, and we got Max a lot of open baskets, which was huge for us.”

Brooks put up his fifth double-double, as he shot 12-for-16 from the floor to lead five double-digit scorers for the River Hawks. Sophomore Ayinde Hikim (Washington, D.C.) distributed the ball well, registering a game-high seven assists while adding 14 points. Senior Allin Blunt (Crownsville, Md.) added 13 points, while junior Kalil Thomas (New Orleans, La.) and senior Everette Hammond (Silver Spring, Md.) chipped in with 12 and 10, respectively. As a unit, UMass Lowell shot 51.6% from the floor.

The River Hawks took the lead early thanks to some stellar defense, holding Hartford to just 1-for-8 from the floor in the opening minutes. However, the home team bounced back with a 12-2 run to take the upper hand, 12-7, with 11:34 remaining in the first half.

Three minutes later, Blunt swiped a ball away from the opposition and drove to the rim for two before Thomas drained a three-ball to put the River Hawks back in front, 20-15, at 7:07. The game stayed close in the waning minutes, with the board even on two occasions, until Hammond hit a pull-up jumper and Thomas and Brooks followed with buckets of their own to give the visitors a 36-33 margin at the break.

Brooks started the second with a layup off of a pretty pass from Hikim, sparking an 8-3 spurt. Back-to-back Hartford threes cut the difference back to two, but Brooks scored on consecutive possessions to open an 11-0 run that was capped off by a triple from Hikim to give the team its largest lead of the night, 55-42, with 13:44 left to play.

Hartford gained momentum and threatened the lead towards the final minutes of the contest, closing the gap to just four at 3:29, but Brooks took control with a monstrous dunk that set off a scoring barrage for the River Hawks to seal the 83-73 outcome.

With the win, the River Hawks secure the seventh seed for the America East Playoffs and will head to No. 2 UMBC for quarterfinal action on Sunday, March 6. Tipoff for that matchup is slated for 1 p.m.